The Church of Santa
Barbara dei Librari definitely dates back to 1306 -
the year of it's consecration. The date of it's construction,
however, is unknown as documentation only provides minimal
and uncertain information but it is thought that the church
existed in the 11th Century.

Located in Largo dei Librari, Santa Barbara dei Librari
was bestowed upon the Guild of Booksellers which had been
formed in 1600.

Santa Barbara dei Librari has been a parish church over
the years and has had several cardinals as titulars. For
much of the 20th Century, the church was closed, deconsecrated
and used as a store hourse. In the 80s the church was restored
and now looks absolutely magnificent. Both on the inside
and outside.

Exterior

The façade was designed and built by Roman architect
and painter Giueseppe Passeri, a pupil of Carlo Maratta,
in 1680.

In the first order, we find the door, framed by two columns
with composite capitals and and arched tympanum enclosing
the head of a cherub. The architrave bears the Latin inscription "S
Barbarae V.M. Sacr."

The second order a niche encloses a travertine statue of The
Saint by Ambrogio Parisi. Candelabra flank the terminal
tympanum. Sea-shell motif form almost lateral wings on
two windows.

Also on the second order, below the right hand window a
Latin inscription tells us that the piazza in front of the
Church was bought by the Guild of Book Sellers on the
22nd February 1638 for "scudi 400."

Key facts

About Mark Sukhija

Mark Sukhija is a travel and wine blogger, photographer, tourism researcher, hat-touting, white-shirt-wearing, New Zealand fantatic and eclipse chaser. Aside from at least annual visits to New Zealand, Mark has seen eclipses in South Australia (2002), Libya (2006), China (2009) and Queensland (2012). After twelve years in Switzerland, Mark moved back to London in 2012. You can follow Mark on Twitter or Facebook